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Thursday, June 13, 2013

A Night at the Ballet

A few years ago for a birthday present, my
boyfriend bought us tickets for The Nutcracker, a childhood favorite that I
haven’t seen in years. Not only was I surprised of the great gift, but I was
even more surprised by the fact he would actually sit through and entire
ballet- and see men prance around in tights and women twirl around and
walk around on pointe. It wasn't until the end of the first act that he
realized that there was no talking in the ballet, just dancing and hand
gestures to see what the people were talking about.

Cut to this past week where I asked him to
join me to the ballet again. I had received a pair of free tickets to see Coppélia
through the Boston Ballet and since it was free, I had to attend. Knowing I had
one chance to get this right, I cautiously asked him if would like to join me,
dinner would be prior to the show, there is no talking during the ballet, the
story is told through dancing and if we, (he), really couldn't take it then we
would leave (since they were free tickets, it would be okay). Surprising, this
route went well and he said ‘yes’ without me having to negotiate the night.

The night of the ballet, I made reservations
at Back Deck Restaurant, a place I knew he would like since it resembles a
summer night on an outside deck and there was a good selection of ‘off the
grill’ food. I went with the grilled chicken breast and he went with the mixed
grille, a great selection for him since it included an array of meat like a
cheese plate. I also suggested he have a few drinks before we went in, so he
would be more loosened up for 2 hour ballet.

Once we got to the Opera House we picked up
our tickets at Will Call where I was quite surprised to see where we would be
sitting- Orchestra Center, Center Row- not too bad. Since it was a Wednesday
night, it wasn't a completely sold out crowd, which worked very well in our
favor since no one sat to either side of us, we were able to have some good leg
room. The only problem we had the entire night was actually knowing what Coppélia
was actually about…there were no words spoken so would we completely understand
what’s going on?

Luckily the Playbill had a section that explained what each
Act was about, where in turn I would explain it to the boyfriend so he’d
understand why the actors were prancing around on stage.

The ballet lasted a little over 2 hours and
was produced beautifully. A part of me has always loved ballet and ballerinas,
how they can move and dance so gracefully on stage has always amazed me. I
sometimes regret not keeping up with dancing when I was a kid, but to be
honest, my feet and dancing didn't mesh well together, they worked better on a
softball or soccer field. They only part better than the ballet was that my
boyfriend stayed for the whole show, and even gave an applause at the
end…although it only lasted a few seconds since we had to leave and beat the
rush (his idea, not mine).

I had left the evening dancing on air, or at
least trying to leap around the sidewalk without falling on my behind. It was
like a scene right out of ‘Sex and the City’…actually I think that was in one
of the episodes where Big took Carrie to the ballet, and he hates the ballet. I
had accomplished the impossible: a night at the ballet with the boyfriend, and
have him stay awake and in his seat for the entire show- I did well.